United States Tree postal card and paid reply card March 28

The United States Postal Service will issue a new nondenominated (34¢) Tree forever postal card March 28 in New York City.

The postal card’s imprinted stamp is pictured here.

The first-day ceremony is planned to take place at 11:30 a.m. during the American Stamp Dealers Association’s Spring Postage Stamp Show, March 27-30 in New York City.

The postal card is denominated with the word forever, but has a stamp value lower than the first-class letter rate. It fulfills the rate for postal cards, currently 34¢.

The single cards sell for 38¢ each, or 4¢ more than face value.

The Tree forever postal card will be available as a single card, a paid reply postal card (two unsevered cards, one for message and one for reply), and in an uncut sheet of 40 postal cards.

The image of the tree was created by Ohio artist Cathie Bleck. This is her third project for the Postal Service. Her illustration of a pineapple was used on the 26¢ postal card and paid reply card issued in 2007 (Scott UX488, UY46, respectively) and on the Deer postal card and paid reply card issued in 2013 (UX644, UY51, respectively).

The Postal Service’s description of the Tree postal card stamp design states, “This graphic depiction captures the look of a fanciful tree, in greens and browns, amid birds and tall grasses.”

Technical details and first-day postmark information for the Tree forever postal card and reply card are in the box nearby.

Nondenominated (34¢) Tree forever
postal card, paid reply card, sheet of 40
FIRST DAY— March 28, 2014; city— New York, N.Y., and nationwide.
DESIGN: artist— Cathie Bleck, Cleveland Heights, Ohio; designer, art director and typographer— Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, Md.; modeler— Joseph Sheeran.
PRINTING: process— offset; printer and processor— Ashton Potter USA Ltd., Williamsville, N.Y.
Single postal card
PRINTING: press— Stevens, Vari-size Security Press; paper— nonphosphored type III, block tagged; inks— black, cyan, magenta, yellow; quantity— 13.96 million cards; plate size— 18 cards per revolution; size— 5.5 inches by 3.5 inches (overall individual postal card); other markings— “©2014 USPS,” recycling logo; USPS item No.— 227900.
Paid reply postal card
PRINTING: press— Mueller Martini, A76; quantity— 300,000 double paid reply cards; plate size— 12 cards per revolution; size— 5.5 inches by 7 inches (overall individual reply card); USPS item No.— 233000.
Sheet of 40
PRINTING: press— Heidelberg Speedmaster XL105; quantity— 19,500 sheets of 40; plate size— 40 cards per revolution; size— 5.5 inches by 3.5 inches (overall individual postal card from sheet); USPS item No.— 234000.
First-day cancel ordering information
Standard ordering instructions apply. Collectors are encouraged to purchase their own postal cards, which cost 38¢ each (single cards) or 76¢ (reply card). The cards should be addressed for return and placed in an envelope addressed to Tree Stamped Card, Special Events Coordinator, 380 W. 33rd St., Room 4032, New York, NY 10199. Requests for first-day cancels must be postmarked by May 27.
The Postal Service’s uncacheted first-day cover for the Tree postal card is item No. 227916 at 50¢; the double-reply card is item No. 233016 at 88¢.